


Home

by Despina



Category: Saiyuki Gaiden
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-03-25
Updated: 2013-03-25
Packaged: 2017-12-06 09:56:49
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 940
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/734373
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Despina/pseuds/Despina
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Konzen reflects on his return to Heaven. Tenpou helps.</p>
            </blockquote>





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**Author's Note:**

  * For [kikyo](https://archiveofourown.org/users/kikyo/gifts).



> This is a tiny fic, but it hit the trash bin twice before it was saved by Jedi and Whymzy. Thank you, my friends!

Konzen wasn't like he'd been before. Physically, he looked the same ... now. In a ridiculous turn of events, he'd endured excruciating growing pains as his body stretched to re-attain Konzen height. Not to mention the foolishness with his hair. But though he was taller and his hair was longer, he was fairly certain the Konzen of old was gone forever. He had changed through his time of punishment, his trip on the wheel of death and rebirth. But he didn't think his differences were bad or good; they just were. 

As he acclimated to being Konzen again, he found himself reacting to situations with Sanzo-like emotions, some of which seemed to linger longer than others. Before his time in exile, he'd been able to tolerate the circling servants, the men and women who fussed over him. Mostly. But now, their incessant nattering drove him crazy. There were days—like today—where he would sneak out his window and climb to the roof just to get away from stupid, clingy nutbars.

He settled back and stared at a wispy cloud, enjoying his moment of quiet indulgence.

With Kenren's recent appearance, that completed the return of the five exiles. Konzen supposed he should check in on the trouble-maker to see how he was handling his abrupt reintroduction to Heaven. Knowing Kenren, he was probably playing cards and drinking, thinking up ways to cause trouble. Maybe.

Konzen's own return had been difficult at first. Each of them seemed to adjust at different rates. Tenpou had re-arrived after Konzen but he adapted more quickly, resettling and resetting. He was already shuffling around in toilet slippers and a lab coat as if his time as the uptight neat-freak Cho Hakkai had never happened. 

But then again, Tenpou had always been a source of strangeness.

As if Konzen's thoughts had summoned him, Tenpou crested the side of the roof. "There you are! The servants said you'd run away again." He pulled himself onto the uneven tiles, a lit cigarette hung precariously from his mouth. He turned slowly, gazing up at the sky and saying, "Ah, I see why you come up here so often. It's a lovely view."

"Yes," Konzen answered with a frown. "And it's quiet."

Tenpou sat down next to him. "But even with all this beauty—and silence—you appear annoyed."

Konzen's fingers twitched and he licked his lips.

"I see; you're still readjusting to the god thing. Fair enough," Tenpou said with a smile as he held out his cigarettes.

"No. The damn things make me throw up, now." Konzen had tried smoking since his return, but each time he'd been violently ill for hours after. "If I'd known, I would've smoked three times more down there."

This time Tenpou laughed. "If you recall, we could barely keep you sated with nicotine as it was."

"You're one to talk. In this realm, anyway."

"Yes, the differences in my lives were startling. In some ways, I envy Kenren." 

"What?" Konzen said, surprised. "I know you chain-smoke and drink, but I didn't think you—"

"I said: 'in some ways,'" Tenpou repeated. "Kenren seems to be relatively the same in both lives. And even the ones in-between, surprisingly predictable. Or perhaps 'genuine' is a better word."

Konzen nodded in agreement. "Goku, too."

"Well, we both know Goku is special, so that's hardly a fair comparison."

"I suppose," Konzen said as he lay back and gazed at the blueness above. "Do you miss it?"

Tenpou exhaled a cloud of smoke and said, "Comparatively, it was little more than a blip in time. All of the lives together didn't really add up to much."

Konzen watched cherry blossoms tumble by. He hadn't made up his mind how he felt about it. So much had happened in those tiny instances of life and death. After a few moments he asked Tenpou again, "But do you miss it?"

"Some of it," Tenpou said as he crushed out his cigarette. "The brooding got old."

Konzen chuckled.

"I do appreciate hearing you laugh. You were a rather surly bastard as Genjo Sanzo."

"I'm a surly bastard as Konzen, too," Konzen added.

"I can't argue with that. But even you must admit you're a bit softer in this realm." Tenpou touched Konzen's ankle and traced the line of his foot. 

"And you like softer?" Konzen's foot twitched, and heat shot through his nerve-endings, racing through his circulatory system.

"I do." Tenpou leaned over and gave Konzen a kiss. Not one of the fiery ones, but one of the smoldering, slow-burn kisses, the insidious kind that would disrupt his entire day. 

Konzen's lips tingled when Tenpou pulled away.

"Feels good to be home, doesn't it?" 

"Tenpou ..." 

Tenpou stood up and stretched as he said, "Well, you'd better get to your office. Before Kanzeon comes looking for you again."

"But—" 

"Come by tonight. I have some of that great plum wine." Tenpou winked at him and leapt off the side of the building.

Konzen scrambled to the roof's edge and looked down. He watched Tenpou roll to his feet and dust off his lab coat, no worse for wear, apparently. 

Tenpou looked up and waved his cigarettes at Konzen. "Welcome home!"

Konzen shook his head and whispered, "You crazy idiot."

Then he turned onto his back again and watched the pink and white sakura blossoms tumble against a backdrop of sky blue. His mouth and foot still buzzed from Tenpou's touch. Konzen sighed in contentment. 

He was certain boredom and bad politics would return. But in the meantime, while it was still new again and relatively uncomplicated, being home did feel pretty good.

 

End


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